"The situation was critical, but Federal Passenger Company (FPK) did not receive repeals of applications from Russian tour operators. The circumstances threatened to spoil New Year holidays for hundreds of Russians, and the company decided to assign additional railcars for transporting tourists," the company said.

Some 144 tourists will board train No 973, Moscow-Brest, from the Belarussky Terminal at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Three extra cars will be attached to the train for them.

Olga Sanayeva, a member of the Presidium of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Board, said earlier that Russian tourists would travel to Brest by bus rather than by train.

In her words, Russian Railways cancelled a number of trains to Brest and cut the number of railcars before the New Year holidays. Traditionally, tourists board these trains to reach the border, where they take buses.

Tour operators planned several bus tours to Europe for the New Year holidays. More than 400 tourists were supposed to leave Moscow for Brest on December 29 and over 600 more on January 2.